Helicoidal flow, a possible cause of meandering

Abstract

Sediment-free model streams, suspended from the lower sides of nearly horizontal glass plates, meander in the same way as do alluvial rivers. Meandering cannot, therefore, be ascribed to granular bed load. It is suggested that an alternative causative mechanism is helicoidal flow, which, in turn, is the product of turbulence within the stream, as Einstein and Li have pointed out.